


Strings

by sleepingincemeteries



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Break Up, Enemies to Lovers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Lovers To Enemies, Lovers to enemies to lovers, M/M, Post-Break Up, Sharing a Bed, dream is a simp, how do I title chapters???, no beta we die like my braincells during finals, sapnap is tired of his friends bs, we all need a friend like sapnap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28797975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepingincemeteries/pseuds/sleepingincemeteries
Summary: George was in love with Dream and Dream was in love with George. That’s how it was supposed to go. They get together and live happily ever after, like in all of the books he’s read in his life. But real life isn’t like that. Real life is messy. Incredibly so. Real life isn’t a straight line from the first kiss to the wedding bells. It’s a curvy line, a knot, sometimes it even breaks and it’s left to either drift away in the wind or for the two to tie themselves back together. In real life, Dream and George, George and Dream, don’t fit together. They clash with each other, like puzzle pieces that have been forced together when, really, they’d be better apart. They both know this, they’ve both accepted this and gone their different ways. Only they neglected to tell anyone else of their break.Or George forgot to tell his parents he and Dream broke up and they're insisting he comes over for Christmas.
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 116
Collections: MCYT





	1. Strings

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for fun after my brain completely died from finals.  
> Please DO NOT share this with any CC's in any tags, donos, etc.  
> To be clear, I do not ship any real people, only the personas they display. If any of the CC mentioned in this say they want it taken down I will.   
> Also, highly doubt this will happen, but please don't post my work to other websites.

George was in love with Dream and Dream was in love with George. That’s how it was supposed to go. They get together and live happily ever after, like in all of the books he’s read in his life. But real life isn’t like that. Real life is messy. Incredibly so. Real life isn’t a straight line from the first kiss to the wedding bells. It’s a curvy line, a knot, sometimes it even breaks and it’s left to either drift away in the wind or for the two to tie themselves back together. In real life, Dream and George, George and Dream, don’t fit together. They clash with each other, like puzzle pieces that have been forced together when, really, they’d be better apart. They both know this, they’ve both accepted this and gone their different ways. Only they neglected to tell anyone else of their break.

* * *

George really should have had better foresight. He should have known his parents would bring up bringing his boyfriend home to meet them. He should have had the heart to tell them that the boy he had been in love with three months ago was long gone. But they were so eager, so excited. This would be the first Christmas George brought home a partner, they said. So, George simply smiled, nodded, and told his parents he’d talk it over with Dream and see if he could get a flight out for the holidays.

* * *

“Where’s your American boyfriend, George? You should invite him over.”

“He lives in Florida, Mum. Plane tickets are expensive.”

“Weren’t you making plenty of money from your job? I’m sure you could afford a plane ticket.”

“He’s been very busy with work.”

“Ah, but family is more important.”

“…”

“He is family after all.”

“…Of course, Mum.”

* * *

“My mum wants you over for Christmas.”

“Does she know that we broke up?”

“No. I didn’t have the heart to tell her, she’s been begging to meet you since before we started dating.”

“I’m busy.”

“I know.”

“You’ll owe me.”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

“I’ll see if I can make it.”

“Thank you.”

* * *

The airport reunion isn’t anything like the movies. There’s no dramatic running towards each other. He doesn’t pick him up, twirling him around, and kiss him. They don’t even hug. George just nods politely to Dream and leads him to his car. They exchange no words on the drive down to Brighton.

* * *

George’s parents love Dream. (Of course, they do. Everyone does.) ~~(Expect George.)~~ They call him Clay and ask how his job is going. Oh you work with code as well, that’s amazing. Dream gets along perfectly with them. ~~(Like he does with everyone.)~~ George regrets his decision.

* * *

There’s only one bed.

“You take it, I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“Dream. Please. You’re the guest.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll never hear the end of it if my mum finds out I made you sleep on the floor.”

“You aren’t making me do anything, I want to sleep on the floor.”

“Sleep in the fucking bed.”

“I think I’ll stick with the floor, thanks.”

“Absolutely not. You’re sleeping on the bed, and that’s final.”

“I’m not going to let you sleep on the floor.”

“Well, I’m not letting _you_ sleep on the floor.”

“…We could share the bed.”

“Wha-what?”

“It’s not that big of a deal. We can build a wall of pillows between us or something.”

“Fine. But only because I know you aren’t going to relent.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

~~The wall of pillows was useless, they wake up cuddled together anyways.~~

~~Neither of them mention it.~~

* * *

As much as he hates to admit it, George missed this. The playful, easy banter they had. The way George would slot perfectly into Dream’s side, like he was always meant to be there. The inside jokes that were funny only to them. The way Dream’s eyes lit up when he entered the room, the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled, his stupid, wheezing laugh that left him gasping for air. But then he remembers the fights, the harsh words the two of them exchanged. He remembers crying himself to sleep after every fight and the tense silence that rang across the ocean between them. Their banter turned harmful, scarcely hidden insults that cut him with their barbs. When they met up, Dream would get annoyed at George for clinging to him. The jokes fell flat. Dream’s laugh became less endearing and more annoying.

“We’re better off as friends.”

George knew those words were true, but that didn’t mean they didn’t cut any less deep.

* * *

Christmas passes. Then New Years. And then George is driving Dream to the airport so he can catch his flight.

“Thanks for coming.”

“No problem.”

“…I’m sorry for taking you away from your family.”

“It’s no big deal, there’ll be more Christmas’s. ~~This was the only one I got with you.~~ ”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“…”

“Have a safe flight.”

“You know I can’t control that.”

“Oh.”

“Bye George.”

“Goodbye Dream.”

* * *

It’s not until a few months later that George finds the note Dream left him, hidden in his dresser.

_~~Dearest George,~~ _

_~~Dear Gogy,~~ _

_George,_

_I’m not good with words. We both know this. ~~I think it’s part of the reason why we didn’t work out.~~ But I’ll try to explain my thought process to you._

_When you first called me to tell me your parents wanted me over for Christmas, I was angry. I was angry at you for not telling your parents that we broke up, angry at you for wanting to take me away from my family, angry at you for calling me after months of radio silence. But mostly I was angry at myself. I was angry at myself for letting you slip away, for letting us drift apart, for letting myself lose the one person who meant the world to me. ~~Who still does.~~_

_We fall in and out of love on the whim of some god or deity or maybe just our stupid hearts. We can’t control who we love. I wish I could, I wish I could’ve spared ~~you~~ myself the hurt of falling for someone who wasn’t right for ~~you~~ me. ~~Or maybe we were right for each other, maybe we just hadn’t figured it out yet.~~_

_Love is messy._ Life _is messy. It’s all a bunch of strings, all tied together in one big knot. Every one of them over lapping, weaving through each other, getting all tangled up. And sometimes, one of the strings breaks it’s connection to the other and they fall apart. Sometimes they can tie back together, fix themselves, but most of the time they fall apart and never see each other again. ~~I like to think we are those strings. Yes, we may be broken, but we can still tie ourselves together again, create a stronger bond than before.~~_

_I don’t know where I was going with this._

_~~I love you.~~ _

_~~I’m sorry.~~ _

_~~Your love~~ _

_~~Love~~ _

_~~Sincerely~~ _

_Dream_

George lets himself cry because of Dream for the first time in months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Originally this was supposed to be a long fic with multiple chapters but I know for a fact that I would never be able to finish it, so instead take my random 3 am thoughts.


	2. Bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sapnap watches his friends being idiots.

Sapnap knew his friends were idiots. Both of them were. Sometimes it was endearing but most of the time it was just straight-up annoying. Especially now. But that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t die for either of them. He might just, die that is, if he has to endure one more call of Dream crying over George breaking up with him (it has been _months_ and he’s still not over it) or George ranting about another stupid ~~ly cute~~ thing Dream did while they were filming. He wishes he could just tell them to get over themselves and fuck it out. He wouldn’t though, so he suffers in near silence.

* * *

“What do you mean he invited you over for Christmas? Didn’t you break up like a month ago?”

“Six weeks, four days, and roughly 15 hours ago, yes.”

“Jesus Christ, Dream. You have a problem.”

“I know that, I know…ugh, what am I supposed to do?”

“Say no?”

“I can’t do that.”

“And why not?”

“I- Because then he’ll get that look on his face. The one where he’s disappointed but doesn’t want to say anything because he’s a _gentleman_.”

“Pfft- Gogy the British gentleman. Wait, you can’t even see him.”

“But I _know_ he’ll have that look. And I don’t want to hurt his feelings.”

“…simp.”

* * *

“I fucked up.”

“Yes, hello Gogy. I’m doing well, thanks for asking.”

“I forgot to tell them, Sapnap, and now I’m paying the price.”

“Is this about Christmas?”

“…How did you know already?”

“Dude, I just got off a call with Dream. Did you forget that you both used to use me as a way to vent about your relationship drama?”

“…No?”

“You did, didn’t you? That’s fucked up.”

“I’m sorry. But, seriously, what am I supposed to do?”

“Tell them he can’t make it, it’s really easy.”

“I can’t do that! My mum’s really excited to meet him, I couldn’t do that to her!”

“Jesus.”

“…Sapnap. He’s going to be _living_ with me. For two weeks.”

“I mean, you don’t know that he’ll even make it.”

“You just got off the phone with him. He’s coming.”

“I hate that you automatically assume that.”

“I’m not wrong am I?”

“…No. Besides, it won’t be that bad. It’s not like you’ll be sharing a bed.”

* * *

“This is bad Sapnap- Stop fucking laughing at misery, you prick.”

“Pfft, I- I can’t breathe.”

“I hate you. This is all your fault.”

“Sure, blame-blame it on the guy who isn’t even there.”

“You jinxed it.”

“What?”

“You said we wouldn’t be sharing a bed, and you _jinxed it_.”

“Oh my God, you’re like a shitty fanfiction trope-”

“A what? You know what, no, I don’t want to know. I hate you.”

“Lmao.”

* * *

“He’s so cute when he’s asleep.”

“Okay first off, what is with you and George only calling me to talk about each other. Secondly, I’m getting serious stalker vibes right now.”

“What- no, we-we fell asleep together.”

“You slept together.”

“Yes. No. Not in the way you’re talking about.”

“Oh, this is about the one bed situation.”

“Yes. How did you know about that?”

“…I’m done.”

“Sapnap-”

“No. Goodbye.”

* * *

Sapnap loves his friends. He would die for them. (Maybe, it depends on the day and how stupid they were being.) He’s more than willing to stick with them through everything. More than willing to be a safe space for George to rant about Dream or a tricky bit of code he can’t get right, for Dream to worry about blowing up and being a lit match, burning fast and bright but eventually running out. He’s more than willing to comfort them through anything shitty going on in their lives, sending virtual hugs and promises of actual hugs when he sees them again. Still, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt him to see them suffering, to see Dream crying over the boy who broke his heart, to see George pushing his own broken heart deep down underneath coding plugins and editing videos to stay busy. So maybe that’s why he tells Dream to write out his feelings, to tell George everything going through his head, to leave a letter tucked into George’s dresser.

* * *

George is crying and it’s all Sapnap’s fault.

“I promised myself Sapnap. I promised.”

“George, it’s fine to cry-”

“No, it’s not! I told myself I wouldn’t let myself cry over him again. I promised!”

“Promises are meant to be broken.”

“Did-did you know about this? You had to have known, he tells you everything.”

“ ~~Yes.~~ No, I didn’t know. He didn’t tell me about this.”

“What am I supposed to do? I-I don’t know what to do.”

“You said he wrote you a letter-”

“Telling me he still loves me, yes.”

“What did it say exactly?”

George tells him. Sapnap curses his past self for getting him into this mess.

“So?”

“So, what?”

“Are you going to respond?”

“What?”

“You know, write a letter back.”

“What- no! Who even writes letters these days?”

“I don’t know man, I think it’s kinda romantic.”

“Ugh.”

“Just give it a try, you know? You have his address, send him a letter. What’s the worse that could happen?”

“He could- I could break his heart again.”

“Is that a risk you’re willing to take?”

“…I don’t know.”

“Give it a try. It’s not cool to leave someone on read.”

Sapnap can only hope that the two will figure their shit out. Maybe with a little help from him along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this has a chapter two now??? thank you for all the love and support on the last chapter, i promise we'll get into fluff soon (probably). i don't really have a plan or plot for this, it's mostly going off what i feel works well, so um... sapnap's pov on his friends being idiots :D


	3. Tie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream and George exchange letter

**April 9 th.**

_Dream._

_The last thing I expected from you was a letter. ~~The last thing I expected was to~~_ ~~cry~~ _~~from a stupid letter.~~ _ _I didn’t plan on responding to you, and I’m still not sure I’m going to send this, but Sapnap told me to. He said it would be rude to leave you on read, which doesn’t make sense because how someone even know if you read a letter._

_You’re absolutely right, you’re shite with words. ~~But I am too. So really it both of our faults for being shite at communication.~~ Still, I understand what you mean. Or at least I think I do._

_I was angry at myself too, so I can’t really blame you for being mad at me. I meant to tell my parents about us breaking up but ~~that would make it final~~ my mum always wanted to meet you and had been talking about Christmas for ages. I’m grateful you agreed though. I owe you something. ~~Not happy about that. What would you want me to do?~~_

_Anyways, thanks for the letter I guess. ~~Please keep writing me.~~_

_George._

**April 19 th.**

_~~Dear~~ _ _George,_

_I don’t know whether to be thankful it took you this long to find my note or not. I will admit, I had thought you had found it shortly after I left and just didn’t respond, so getting a letter from you is a relief._

_What would we do without Sapnap? I know that I couldn’t survive a week without him. ~~Or you for that matter. It sucked when we weren’t talking. I’m glad we’re talking now. Is this talking?~~ Thanks for sending a letter back anyways, even if Sapnap had to convince you to. You know, he’s the one who told me to write a letter in the first place. I think it’s kinda funny how we both go to him for advice, he must be sick of us by now. _

_I feel like a soldier from World War Two, writing letters to his ~~lover~~ family back home. Is that stupid? I don’t know. I have no clue what to write to you about. Do you want me to keep writing? I can always stop; you just need to tell me to. _

_Dream (:_

**April 24 th. **

_Dream,_

_You are an idiot. ~~But I love you anyways.~~_

_What type of person thinks of a soldier in WW2 writing letters? If anything, you’re a pining Victorian schoolboy._

_As for what would we do without Sapnap…probably drive each other and ourselves insane. I don’t know, and I’d rather not think about it._

_George_

**April 30 th.**

_Dear George,_

_If you insist I’m a love-sick schoolboy, I might as well act like one, right? Send you love letters and books with my favorite lines underlined and flowers pressed in between the pages? So, I’ll give it my best go, let me know how I do? :)_

_Do you know how much I love you, George? I love the way you smile more than I could ever find the words in my crazy, chaotic brain to say. But, I admit, I love just as much, if not more, how you say my name. Not my screenname, not Dream, my real name. The way you would softly murmur it in the mornings we spent together, either on call or in person, with me just going to bed and you just waking up. The way you would slip up while we were recording, like you meant to say it all along. I love you more than you could ever imagine._

_Do you know how much I miss you? I miss the way you held my hand, tying our hands together always and never wanting to let go. I miss the way you would thread your fingers through my hair when we sat together on the couch or in bed. I miss the way you would pull me close. It felt like nothing bad could ever happen to me while I was safe in your arms._

_Do you know how it you break my heart every night when I cry? When I think about you, when I miss you. You were, you_ are _the only thing that has ever felt right in our crazy, fucked up world._

_Even if you knew all those things, I wonder, would you still love me, still want me? Would you still let me go?_

_Love,  
Clay _

**May 7 th.**

_George,_

_I’m sorry, did I go too far? Please tell me. ~~I can’t stand not writing you.~~_

_Dream_

**May 15 th.**

_Dear Clay,_

_I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you by not replying. I…I will admit I wasn’t expecting that. I wasn’t expecting you to write me a love letter. ~~Did you really mean it? Or were you just playing a role?~~ I suppose it’s only fair I respond with one in kind. _

_I heard once, I don’t remember where, that we fall in-love with three people in our lifetime and each one for a specific reason._

_Our first love is the one that happens at a young age. You eventually grow apart or call it quits over something stupid and silly. And when you get older, you look back and think ‘that wasn’t love’ but it was. It was love for what you knew love to be at the time._

_Our second love is the hard one. You get hurt. This one teaches us lessons, makes us stronger than we were before. There’s lies and pain and betrayal and drama and damage, so much damage. But with this one, we grow. We learn what we love about love and what we don’t. We learn the difference between good people and bad people, the toxic ones who hurt you more than you could ever imagine. We become closed off and careful and tell ourselves that we will never allow ourselves to love again, to be hurt like that again._

_Our third love comes blindly. It creeps up with no warning and when you least expect it. You don’t look for this love, you’ve given up on all hope of love before this one, it just comes to you. You can put up all the wall you want, but they’re all broken down. You find yourself caring about that one person without trying to, without wanting to. They’re the one you really, truly love. The one you want to spend the rest of your life with._

_I think it’s sort of funny that you’re all three. It’s kinda unfair to. You selfish bastard, keeping my heart all for yourself._

_Love,_

_George_

_P.S. I mean every word of this. And I realize this might be a joke for you and if it is, please don’t respond, I don’t think I can stand another heartbreak._

**May 19 th.**

_My dearest George,_

_I apologize in advance for the short letter, I’m shit at words. We both know that. And I would never joke like this with anyone, least of all you._

_The day that I met you, I had no clue that this would be how it turned out. I mean, come on, writing letters back and forth to a cute British boy seems like the plot of a coming-of-age movie. I can’t say that I’m honestly disappointed. Despite the tears shed and hurtful words thrown to get here, I’m glad it happened. I’m glad I got to meet you, I’m glad I got to slowly but surely fall in love with you. And I’ve fallen so deep that it feels like I’m drowning but then you call and I can breathe again. You always know when to call. I’m convinced it’s a superpower of yours. Still, I’m scared. I’m scared of messing this up, of hurting you again, of hurting myself again. When I first wrote you, I thought I would be able to tell you my true feelings and not fuck up my words but apparently it’s just as hard to get my thoughts down on paper as it is to speak them. So, let me just tell you the best I can._

_I love you. I love you more than the moon loves the sun. I love you more than a bird loves its freedom. I love more than addict loves his heroin or crack or whatever. It’s funny, you know. We’re always taught in school and by parents to stay away from the drugs on the streets but never the ones with brown eyes that don’t work right and a heartbeat._

_All my love and more,_

_Clay_

**May **23 rd**. **

_My Clay,_

_I’ve always wanted to know what you were thinking the first time you saw me, my face that is, with my dark hair and shit. We were the best of internet strangers and the worst of real life friends. The first time I heard your voice, your stupid wheeze, I knew that I couldn’t settle for us being “friends.”_

_Over the years, I’ll admit I’ve kissed a lot of boys. I don’t remember most of them, but you, you were different. I know I’ll never be able to forget the first time you kissed me. When we first met up. You flew me to Florida and you and Sapnap were there to pick me up from the airport. You waited until we were alone to kiss me. I could feel the sparks tingling my lips for hours afterwards._

_Whilst I’m okay with the fact that you stopped loving me, it doesn’t mean I’m okay with forgetting about it. Forgetting about the months we spent together, on Discord or Skype calls, the soft kisses we shared in the soft light of the morning when it felt like no one was awake yet to see us. You broke my heart into tiny pieces and I don’t think it will ever be whole again. I’m sorry. I’m not the only one who needs to apologize. I did nothing but love you and you did nothing but love me. We didn’t communicate. It’s a two way street and I refused to walk it._

_Yours,_

_George_

**May 27 th.**

_Dearest George,_

_I’m horrible at loving you and starting conversations and right now its four am and I can’t fall asleep because I’m so scared that loving you was the only thing I’ve ever been good at and I couldn’t even do that right. So, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for breaking your heart. I wish I could build a time machine and travel back just to fix it all. I’m not going to ask for you to take me back because that’s a dick move. And I never stopped loving you, ever. I just forgot myself for a while. So, I apologize from the bottom of my heart for everything._

_All my love,_

_Clay_

**June **3 rd**.**

_My Clay,_

_I forgive you. And I want to think that maybe, maybe we could make this work. We could try again. I know we’ll probably fuck it up but I can’t help but want to see you again. I want to be near you again, to have you hug me and feel like the world around us has just stopped. I want all of the cliché stuff. I want to eat greasy American food and watch films with you and lie on the sofa with you, tucked away under a warm blanket and feel the warmth of your body against mine and not have to imagine it anymore. I want to go on long drives with you and go to the beach and get ridiculously sunburned. We would eat ice cream and have a picnic on the sand and paddle in the sea together. And neither of us would have to worry about what we look like or anything because it wouldn’t matter because neither of us care because you’d be in love with me and I’d be in love with you. Is it selfish of me to want something-no, someone-so badly it feels like I can’t breathe when I’m away from them? I’m suffocating and you’re drowning. What a pair we are._

_Yours,_

_George_

**June 16 th. **

_My darling,_

_I’m so sorry it took so long for me to write this, but I had some preparations to make. We’re both broken and fucked up and probably shit for each other but I can’t wait to see you again._

_Always yours,_

_Clay_

Inside is a plane ticket and a polaroid of Dream and Patches. George cries, not out of sadness or heartbreak but out of joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and it's over!! i originally, originally planned for this to be a multi-chapter fic stemming from the idea in the first chapter but a bunch of people were encouraging me to continue writing and not leave them to suffer. so i added another 3 chapters to my plan. however, seeing as it took me several weeks to finish this one chapter, i highly doubt i'll ever get around to writing another. besides, i kinda like the open ending. it lets you imagine how you want the story to end.  
> there were also another two letters in the middle of the chapter but i didn't like how they fit and decided to scrap them. there wasn't much in them, mostly just filler and awkward small talk because i'm not great at writing romantic letters

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Originally this was supposed to be a long fic with multiple chapters but I know for a fact that I would never be able to finish it, so instead take my random 3 am thoughts.


End file.
